Candidate virus for H1N1 vaccine arrives at CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received a candidate vaccine virus for swine flu from one institution Friday, spokesman Thomas Skinner said in an e-mail.

The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have also created a candidate vaccine virus for swine flu, also known as 2009 H1N1, using reverse genetics, he said.

“Suitable viruses will hopefully be sent to manufacturers by end of next week,” Skinner wrote. Once that happens, vaccine makers will tweak the virus and have “pilot lots” of vaccine ready to be tested by mid- to late June.

Several thousand cases have been reported nationally, but the CDC estimates more than 100,000 people have had swine flu in the United States, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health program at the CDC, in a news conference Friday. Most of these people probably have not been officially tested.

The first sample virus came from a lab run by virologist Doris Bucher at New York Medical College, in Valhalla, New York.

Bucher told CNN Thursday that she had just packaged four viruses that she considers vaccine candidates and sent the samples to the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, via courier.

Earlier this week, a Korean scientist, Dr. Seo Sang-heui, also claimed to have produced a virus that might be used in a swine flu vaccine. But Skinner said the methods Sang-heui used were not suitable and that his virus was not considered a viable candidate.

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